Konica displays CR systems new features

Konica Minolta Medical Imaging USA showed a number of its computed radiography (CR) systems last week at the Society for Computer Applications in Radiology (SCAR) Annual Meeting in Orlando, Fla., including the Express v.2 control station, Express Reader 190, and IQue CR.
   
The Konica Express v.2 includes a multitude of features including free text annotation on images; an image data sharing component that allows for information to be utilized between various workstations within a department; the PDA (personal digital assistant) feature lets a user download worklists that can be taken to the point-of-care, a feature designed to avoid the mismatching of plate and cassettes that can sometime occur; lets radiologists do image stitching for large body areas for two to three images; and also includes an 'any-reader-any-time' capability, Graeme D. Pirrie, Marketing Manager, CR, Konica Minolta, told Health Imaging & IT.
   
Another key feature of the Express v.2 is a departmental data analysis tool which provides performance and usage evaluations so that a facility can track which machines are used the most, and for procedure. The benefit of such a tool is cost savings, so that a system that is underused can be reallocated to another location instead of forcing an institution to unnecessarily purchase brand new equipment, said Pirrie.
   
Konica also showed the Express Reader 190 which features a 16-bit ethernet capacity and a network card. The reader also has an 'inherent ability to be used to perform mammography' though this has as yet not been an approved function by the FDA, said Pirrie.
   
The IQue CR system was also at SCAR, which is a system tailored for smaller facilities such as imaging centers. The system includes a self-learning function able to track post-processing preferences in order to save time resetting the system with each procedure, the system anticipates what you will want to do ahead of time.

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